Hybrids Baits? I’ve Got It In The Bag.

Another Sunday night comes around and so does another night on the bank. This week I am on Crain hall again. I have chosen to go on Crain because it did 7 fish on Thursday night so with a high pressure cold front coming in it was the only place to be if I was going to nick a fish.

This time a friend would be joining me for a night. Upon arrival at the lake on Sunday morning we had a good walk round and found where we fancied. Pegs 2-3. As we could not decide who would go where a flip of the coin put me in peg two. Unfortunately I could not get in my peg till gone mid day as another angler was in there so I rolled the barrow in to the next peg and popped up the bed chair, got out the brew gear while watching the lake and made a plan. A few hours past but the fish where not giving away any clues as to there whereabouts.
With the person in peg 2 now beginning to pack up I loaded the rest of my gear on to the barrow and made my way over. After another 20 minutes I was unloading my gear and made head way getting the rods sorted. While rigging up the first rod a few flat spots began to immerge all over in front of the peg and with a huge amount of natural food in the lake I decided a really natural bag mix in a solid would be a good idea.
Now the flat spots I speak of are basically flattening of the ripple in certain spots. These can be made by two main fishy things. If the spot appears then vanishes quickly it can be a disturbance just below the surface. But when it stays lingering or spreading it is usually oil being slicked up off the bottom of the lake. This could be anglers baits being stirred up, but feeding in silt can also cause this. I quickly whipped up 3 lead core leaders using Nash tackle core plus in weed green with running inline leads on. Next in line was the hook links that where whipped up in no time. Finally they where all popped in to solid bags with my favourite mix consisting of oily 2-3-5 and 6mm pellets with crushed 11mm halibut pellets making the base. Next in with this goes some frozen water snails and a few Nash riser pellets to give the whole mix some movement. A little palm full of slightly crushed Nash rock salt go in as I believe at this time of year especially as carp are hunting out salt as they need it in there systems. The whole mix then got a good dose of winterised salmon oil before being left to stand. The hook bait’s were the new Enterprise Tackle Hybrid Boilies that I was testing out. With the bags made I got the rigs out, popped up the Hog brolly and got comfy. It was not long before my bags where getting stirred up and after a quick trip to Joshes peg next door it became apparent he was to having the fish stirring up his baited areas.
The rest of the day passed with not much to note except a few liners and me managing to some how miss land a 20 yard cast 5 times. This may seem irrelevant but with this bit of extra bait over the spot I was sure it would bring some thing in the morning.
Darkness drew in and so did the cold with it dropping to -3 within an hour of the light fading. By 8pm I had no choice but to neck another brew and slip in to the nice warm Nash sleep system as it was now stupidly cold. I was out like a light within minutes and the next time my eyes opened they where staring at a brolly covered in ice and a bobbin jamming in to the alarm on the middle rod. (The rod I had messed up the cast with at first). A hard fight was to be my wake up call. The fish ran me right up to my left and took out my other line. After a confusing and messy fight due to my clutches freezing solid I had a stunning 12-13 pound mirror in the net. I unhooked the fish in the net and got the rod straight back out. A couple of cups of tea where made and I went and woke josh up to ask him to do the honours and take a few snaps. After dragging him out of bed I got a few photos and got sat back out of the cold. With it still being -2 everything had now refrozen. My net was stuck to the floor and my brolly was all white again. I sat back pretty chuffed with a cold cold morning fish and made a quick brew. As I lifted my coffee to my lips the alarm on the middle rod went in to melt down again. I came running out coffee flying every where, and me slipping on my back in the ice. I lifted in to it and instantly started back winding. It was not a happy fish. I had it running me left and right up and down. Basically every where bar the waiting landing net. After about 10 minutes I had just about managed to tame the fish and soon had it sat in the folds of my net. I sorted out the mess I had made while she got here breath back and then lifted her on to the mat. A stunner of 16-17 pounds was my prize and I will be honest I can’t complain at that. 2 fish in 35-40 minutes and it was still -2. Not bad going ay considering over the weekend only 1 fish was banked. A few photos where done and I slipped her back before popping the rods back out. Another hour passed with nothing to show for my efforts so the gear got packed up and the story ends there. Remember even though its cold and you don’t really want to be out there you have to get on the bank to nick a few. I hope my session and a few tips have helped you out.
Tight lines.

Adam Johnson.

My hook section

The bits you will need.
Enterprise Tackle hybrid hook baits pack
Enterprise Tackle hook skins
Nash Tackle Fang X in size 6
A subtle braid.
Step one
Take off more braid than you will need and tie a small loop in the end.

Step two
Slip one of the wafters in to the hybrid skins and thread on to a baiting needle like so.

Step three
Slide the bait on to the braid via the loop and hold it in place with a small bait stop.

Step four
I then tie on my hook using the KD knotless knot with the bait just touching the bend.

Step five
Get out a hook skin. I have chosen the brown due to the substrate colour.

Step six.
I slip one of the sleeves on the hook and work it round until it is where I want it.

Step seven
Finally I tie a loop in the other end of the rig to secure it at my desired length. In this case around 3 inches.

How the rig will sit in the lake.

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